Bell’s “Nickel in the Slot” Phone Unwelcome at The Warrington

The Warrington Apartments (1909) lost its free-to-use communal phone in 1917 when Bell replaced it with a “nickel in the slot” phone. Image: December 2018.

Built in 1909, the Warrington Apartments is one of the city’s older apartments and one of the oldest at the southern end of Elgin street.

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Panda Associates Captures The Sandringham

A few weeks back, I wrote a bit on the Sandringham Apartments in Sandy Hill. While browsing the Panda Associates collection at the University of Calgary, I came across a few more views and have shared them here. 

“A Touch of Scandinavia at the top of Range Road”: The Sandringham Apartments, Ottawa

The Sandringham Apartments on Range Road in Sandy Hill. Image: C.Ryan, February 2014.

The Sandringham Apartments, located at the far eastern edge of Sandy Hill on what was once known as Regan’s Hill,1”‘Regan’s Hill’ Received It’s Name From Henry Regan and His Sons 185[?],” Ottawa Citizen, March 31, 1928, 16. has been overlooking Strathcona Park since its completion in 1958. Its developers, Range Road Developments pulled out all the stops and hired Peter Dickinson, then of Page and Steele, to design an apartment aimed at the luxury market.2For a great tour of Dickinson’s work in Ottawa, see Robert Smythe’s “Peter Dickinson in Ottawa,” (2009).

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Notes

Notes
1 ”‘Regan’s Hill’ Received It’s Name From Henry Regan and His Sons 185[?],” Ottawa Citizen, March 31, 1928, 16.
2 For a great tour of Dickinson’s work in Ottawa, see Robert Smythe’s “Peter Dickinson in Ottawa,” (2009).

Apartment Vacancy Rate in Ottawa-Hull (1964-1977)

Adapted from Statistics Canada S232-245

The above graph, adapted from Statistics Canada S232-245, applies to apartment of six units or more. I’ve noted before that the early 1960s saw unprecedented build-out in apartments in Ottawa and competition was fierce. We’re by-and-large used to rates nowadays being somewhere between 0.5 and 2.5%, but at its peak in the Ottawa-Hull CMA, it had reached 9.1%. I will be doing more with this sort of information later but figured it would be nice to share.

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Update: Shenkman’s Park Square Apartments (1936)

The Park Square Apartments, 425 Elgin. One of the few remaining apartments in the city with a Deco or Moderne design and – most likely – a sister to the Normandie Apartments on King Edward. Image: C.Ryan November 2017

A few years ago, I wrote a short piece about The Park Square Apartments at 425 Elgin Street in Centretown for OttawaStart. As with pretty well anything written, there are a number of things that I would do differently now, but it still gets some of the basic idea out. 

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The Edgewater Apartments: Ken Greene Ruffles a few Feathers Along the ‘Royal Route’ (1951)

The Edgewater Apartments, located at 60 Stanley Avenue in Ottawa, as it appears today. Image: C. Ryan, August 7, 2018.

I’ve always appreciated the Edgewater Apartments in New Edinburgh. In most other settings, it would be a tidy (if unremarkable) mid-century apartment block, but set in New Edinburgh – the northern portion of New Edinburgh – it takes on a whole different meaning.

Continue reading The Edgewater Apartments: Ken Greene Ruffles a few Feathers Along the ‘Royal Route’ (1951)

A Major Development in Sandy Hill (The Major Apartments, Besserer Street, 1937)

The Major Apartments came to Sandy Hill in 1937, but only two of the three were new construction. Image: Google Maps.

With all of the beautiful and interesting heritage properties that stand in Ottawa’s Sandy Hill neighbourhood, it’s somewhat interesting that the apartments above are (a) the first buildings that I really remember loving in the neighbourhood, and (b) still among my favourite. In a setting filled with delightful institutional architecture and numerous Victwardian houses, for some, it would be a wonder that a small handful of 1930s apartments are what have stuck in my mind.

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A Modern Elf (A Brief Update to a Brief History of the Elphin), 1966

A few more details never hurt. Even four years after the fact.

Around four years ago, I wrote a short piece for Ottawa Start about the Elphin Apartments, at the corner of Gladstone and Metcalfe in Ottawa’s Centretown. Given the parameters, I was generally pleased with the results but one thing really bothered me: just who was behind the apartment?

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Ottawa’s MacLaren House Gets all the Wrong Attention, 1967-93

MacLaren House, in May 2016. Image: Google Maps.

It has now been a few years since I first wrote about the Gilbert Apartments, formerly located at 293 Lisgar and soon to be the site of a new 108-unit Claridge apartment. The Werner Noffke-designed walkup was neat as a pin, but had not really received the care it might otherwise have in the intervening decades and had reached its end of life.

Just a heads-up: this one does talk about the death of senior citizens in a relatively recent period.

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The Wedgmont on MacLaren, 1966

The Wedgmont was constructed in 1966. Ottawa – and Centretown – grew upward. Image: September 2017.

A whole lot of things have changed in my life in the last little while that have resulted in me spending time rearranging things. In the middle of all of that, I have also tried to not let this whole blogging enterprise fall by the wayside. It’s one of the more enjoyable things that I have going. In between all of the other things, I’ve been continuing to pick at the long story I have going about the Canada Square project in Toronto at Yonge and Eglinton. That should come soon enough.

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It Could Have Been A Brilliant Career

This one is probably better off in the ‘Blog’ section, as so much of the story is in the notes. Nevertheless, because the front hasn’t seen much since February, I’ve put it here.

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